Every year, for seven days in May or June, Chiang Mai’s Inthakhin Pillar on Wat Chedi Luang, in the heart of the walled city, is at the centre of ceremonies that go back to the city’s foundation in 1296.

During his long reign (1868-1910) King Chulalongkorn introduced many modern institutions. His reforms prevented Thailand’s colonization by foreign powers. The former king’s veneration soared in the 1980s.

Loi Krathong is the traditional Thai festival of lights in November. In the evening hot-air balloons are sent into the sky, while thousands of krathong with a burning candle are floating in the waters.

Achan Man, Luang Pu Thet, Luang Pu Fan and Luang Pu Wan are famous thudong monks who spent much of their life wandering in Sakon Nakhon Province, where their followers have built stupas with a museum commemorating these venerated meditation masters.

This story focuses on the episodes of the ‘lotus pond’ and the ‘delay of Matsi’ in the Buddha’s birth story Vessantara Jataka and is illustrated with many pictures of murals taken in northern Thai temples.